Ansan Memorial Hall mng
Updated: 2014-04-24 12:02:18 KST

A temporary group memorial altar has been set up in Ansan, the city most touched by the disaster.
Thousands of citizens visited the site to say goodbye on Wednesday and hundreds more passed through this morning
Our Shin Se-min is at the site and joins us live from the Ansan Olympic Memorial Hall
Se-min, the atmosphere there must be incredibly somber.

Yes, a constant stream of people are coming into Ansan Olympic Memorial Hall.
Many are having trouble even standing in front of the pictures of the victims that are on display, and the sound of wailing by the mourners never seems to stop.
As of now, well over 18-thousand mourners have visited since yesterday.
Students, teachers and faculty members from Danwon High School have been among those paying respects.
This group memorial is open 24 hours a day here in Ansan, except for certain times of the day for regular maintenance purposes.
The memorial will be open throughout the weekend as well.
The local government here has also set up message service, so that those who cannot come in person can send text messages of condolences.
The messages that come through are being displayed on one of the screens here.

While mourning for the victims continues, seniors of the Danwon High School returned to classes this morning.
Next Monday, April 28th, sophomores as well as juniors who weren't on the Sewol-ho ferry will also return to classes.
Counseling and therapy will be a part of classes for both students and teachers, to help those affected by this tragedy.

And as we reported earlier, Se-min, more bodies recovered from the sunken Sewol-ho ferry are being sent to the city of Ansan.
How is the local government there dealing with the situation?

Local hospitals and funeral halls have been struggling to cope with the number of victims who are being sent here.
Unfortunately, this has meant that some families have had to be placed on a waiting list for a funeral hall.
Officials here in the city are working to expand facilities, while securing funeral halls in nearby cities like Siheung and Anyang .
Meanwhile 12 more victims are expected to be released to their families from Ansan soon.

This has been Shin Se-min, reporting from Ansan Olympic Memorial Hall.